Intra-specific diversity and adaptation modify regime shifts dynamics under environmental change

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Ecosystems face increasing pressure from environmental changes, potentially causing structural shifts.
• Species adaptation through evolution complicates predictions of ecosystem responses to environmental variability.
• The interplay between evolution and ecological regime shifts is poorly understood, hindering effective ecosystem management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the interactions between evolution, intra-specific trait diversity, and population regime shifts.
• To explore how evolutionary processes influence population density dynamics and recovery rates.
• To assess the role of evolution and diversity in population resilience under environmental variability.

Main Methods:

• A prey population model incorporating evolution and intra-specific trait diversity was developed.
• Regime shifts were simulated by altering predation pressure.
• Interactions between evolution, diversity, and population density shifts were analyzed.

Main Results:

• Evolution can cause delayed or accelerated regime shifts and modify population recovery patterns.
• The timing and impact of shifts depend on the relative rates of evolution and environmental change, and initial population states.
• Evolution influences population resilience, particularly under high environmental variability, with phenotypic diversity affecting mortality rates.

Conclusions:

• Population management strategies must integrate diversity, evolution, and environmental change to anticipate eco-evolutionary regime shifts.
• Evolution and diversity exhibit complex interactions with population shift dynamics.
• Future research should examine community-level diversity to better predict ecosystem and community changes.